(Special to CT Blue)
Despite its best efforts, the Hartford Courant was forced to concede today that its campaign to instill irrational fear in the minds of Connecticut residents has been largely unsuccessful. According to the paper:
Connecticut residents are more likely to check their doors at night since the Cheshire slayings, but most have shunned dramatic measures like buying guns or installing security systems, a poll found.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, 98 percent of voters are aware of the home invasion and gruesome triple homicide, and 27 percent say the crime made them feel less safe in their homes.
Fewer than 10 percent report buying new locks, security systems or dogs since the crime in late July. Only 3 percent say the crime prompted them to buy a gun.
Despite the universal awareness of the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, voters are divided on legislative proposals for new prisons and tough mandatory sentencing laws.
Only 35 percent say they favor a “three strikes” law that would impose a mandatory life sentence for a third violent felony.
While these numbers do indicate a high percentage of Connecticut residents favor irrational responses to isolated crimes, they do not approach levels high enough to justify calling the newspaper’s recent campaign a success. It appears that some people simply have an intuitive grasp of statistical probabilities, perhaps enhanced by the fact that they have become more familiar with computing odds, given the proximity of two of the world’s largest casinos. Apparently many people have figured out that the odds of being the victim of a “home invasion” has not grown appreciably, despite the fact that it has now happened once in the last 100 years or so. Similarly, many appear to have come to terms with the fact that criminals who serve their sentences are in fact returned to the community, even if that community happens to be a white upper class suburb.
The paper has pledged to redouble its efforts to instill fear in its readers. Its corporate publishers, along with the corporate owners of most of the local television stations in Connecticut, are not giving up. They insist that with a little more effort on their part, they can succeed in completely distracting the people of Connecticut from issues like health care, global warming, and the war in Iraq.
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